"Are there countries where the legislation does not allow involuntary commitment?

A quote from the article: "Mental health legislation may also allow
people to be treated against their will. However, in many countries
such legislation does not exist, or does not have the power to enforce
involuntary hospitalization or treatment.

-- Tommi Höynälänmaa"

-Wikipedia: Schizophrenia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Schizophrenia

Which countries are there that don't have involuntary commitment? 
What are these countries?  Please name 3 that have Internet access and
free speech.

You might start with places where Western medicine is dis-credited or
where the insanity defense is not valid.

I am a US citizen.  I have Bipolar and Schizophrenia.  I know the
Netherlands is out because a representive of MeTZelf.nl says court
orders can lead to involuntary hospitlization.  I am 21 years old and
wish to live permanently in a country where I can be off meds and not
worry about being involuntary put into psychiatric care by court order
or family, while I of course obey normal laws.

The lack of involuntary hospitalization must cover expatriate foreigners as well.

Thank You,
BPS

bps...

I worked in the mental health field for a long time, so I notice
things like that. Offhand, without researching, I'll simply note
the following:

I once saw a documentary about villages in Africa, where those
with mental illness were allowed to wander the villages, and
received occasional assistance from residents who fed them or
housed them overnight. 

I've also read of similar things in India.

Both of these were some time ago, so things may have changed.
One reason for this is that the more recent findings regarding
schizophrenia indicate that if psychotic episodes are not
controlled by the use of medications, they leave a 'track',
as it were, in the brain, and make ongoing episodes both
more likely and more severe.

Consider the testimony of Randy Petermann before North Dakota's
House Judiciary Committee on March 5, 2003, asking legislators
to support Senate Bill 2296:

"I fought medication at first like a lot of people do. But I
 realize now that my life started to take positive steps, to
 get better, when I had to start taking antipsychotic medicine
 and got professional guidance and support.

 I just wish I'd gotten help sooner because after my second
 break I lost some of my memory abilities. And I wouldn't be
 as fragile as I am today. When you have an episode it does
 cause damage to the nerves in your brain and it's harder to
 recover."
More on the page:
http://www.psychlaws.org/JoinUs/CatalystArchive/CatalystSpring03.htm

These findings, along with corroborating discussion from
those who have been helped by meds, are making it seem
increasingly inhumane to disallow someone who is psychotic
from receiving enforced medication to prevent psychotic
episodes from producing permanent damage to the brain and
the individual experiencing these episodes.

As a result, it is likely that more and more countries will
adopt the attitude that enforced meds are a requisite for
humane treatment of schizophrenia and similar conditions.

Best regards...

sublime1-ga